1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which performs recording onto a target recording medium which is configured such that a surface on one side is a lens layer which is configured by a plurality of lenses and a surface of the other side is a recording layer where recording is possible using a recording head.
2. Related Art
Among printers, in particular, ink jet printers which are examples of recording apparatuses which perform recording onto a target recording medium, there are printers where it is possible to select a bidirectional recording mode where ink is ejected from the recording head in both a period where the target recording medium and the recording head move relatively in a predetermined direction and a period where the target recording medium and the recording head move in the reverse direction to the predetermined direction and a single direction recording mode where ink is ejected from the recording head only in a period where the target recording medium and the recording head move relatively in a predetermined direction (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-240536).
Here, media are known in the prior art where it is possible to obtain various types of visual effects by using a lenticular lens such as, for example, stereoscopically showing images which are recorded (a 3D effect), showing images which are different by changing the viewing angle (a changing effect), and imparting movement to images by changing the viewing angle in a gradual manner (a motion effect).
The lenticular lens refers to a collection of lenses where a plurality of elongated lens elements with a semi-cylindrical shape are aligned and it is possible to obtain the various types of visual effects described above by providing images which are respectively different for the left and right eyes of an observer when images are viewed through such a lenticular lens. Then, there is a method, which is an example of a method of recording images in order to obtain visual effects in this manner, where ink jet recording is performed directly with regard to an ink absorbing layer of a medium where the surface, which is on the opposite side to the surface where the lenticular lens is formed, is configured by the ink absorbing layer.
Here, since the target recording medium which is provided with the lenticular lens has high resilience and low flexibility compared to normal sheets, there are restrictions on the transport path such as that it is not possible to carry out transporting on a transport path with a high degree of curvature. However, when forming a transport path which extends with a linear shape in one direction, for example, from the front of the apparatus toward the side of the rear surface or from the side of the rear surface to the front, the feeding side and the discharge side of the target recording medium are different and the ease of handling is reduced when recording is performed.
In addition, there are cases where the target recording medium which is provided with the lenticular lens is created by being cut from a large sheet into a desired size. In this case, there are cases where the lens which is formed at the edge of the target recording medium is in a defective state of not being cut into a perfect semi-cylindrical shape. In more detail, when the cutting position is positioned exactly in a valley between a lens element and another lens element, the lens element which is formed at the edge has a perfect semi-cylindrical shape. However, in a case where the cutting position is positioned in the middle of a lens element, the lens element at the cutting position will not have a perfect semi-cylindrical shape.
Accordingly, when recording starts with a slicing surface of the lens element with an imperfect semi-cylindrical shape as a reference position, an image which is to be recorded originally on one of the lens elements is recorded across another lens element which is adjacent and it is not possible to favorably obtain the various types of visual effects described above as a result.
Therefore, it is desirable to perform recording using a simple method and with high precision with regard to a target recording medium which is provided with a lenticular lens.